What is WordPress Security and why is it Important?
As a company that aims to be known in the online world, you should be familiar with WordPress. WordPress is a convenient and technologically superior platform that is open source available. It has received a lot of attention from users. But sometimes for the wrong reasons.
May I introduce: Script Kiddies
According to Securi, 9 million websites were hacked in 2017. Forbes even assumes that every day 300,000 websites are hacked! Cybercrime is on the rise. Today, criminals have automated scanners scanning the Internet to find targets where they can inject their malicious code.
What are the parts of your site that give hackers unauthorized access? The most common weaknesses include bad passwords, the use of a public WLAN without a VPN, an insecure hoster, obsolete plug-ins and phishing attacks.
Safety matters: That's why!
Your website is the figurehead of your company. If your customers can not trust your site, they have no reason to trust you. Whether you are running a blog or a website, the worst thing that can happen is that your online platform is being attacked. Luckily, WordPress has solutions for it. WordPress offers plug-ins that protect the core files or ward off a bruteforce attack.
However, it can not tell if you are downloading a vulnerable plug-in. And that's the real problem. Here are a few facts that will help you understand why WordPress security is important to you:
- 50,000 WordPress sites were compromised in July 2014 by a flaw in the MailPoet newsletter. The programmers of MailPoet fixed the vulnerability within a few hours.
- In October 2017, a hacker gang stole 800,000 banking data from WordPress sites.
- A vulnerability in the plug-in Slider Revolution hacked 100,000 WordPress sites.
- Not only websites with many visitors are the destination. Even unknown websites are blamed.
Taking care of the security of your WordPress installation is a matter of survival. There are many developers who implement features that compromise the security of your website or blog.
The multiplication table of WordPress security: Protect your website from the worst attacks
Below are a few tips you should keep in mind to protect your website from ordinary or sophisticated attacks.
1. Always stay up to date
One great thing about WordPress is that new versions of plug-ins are quickly available. These especially fix errors and improve security. To keep hackers out and provide security for your website. Although some security updates are done automatically, most of them have to be done manually.
To update your WordPress in a single install, go to Dashboard> Updates . For a multi-installation, go to Network Admin Dashboard> Updates> Available Updates s.
2. Choose the right hosting provider
When it comes to your security, it makes sense to start with the most basic thing: the web host. If you host your site with a vendor that does not care much about security, then your site runs the risk of being attacked if the vendor's servers are hacked.
Therefore, you should look for a hosting provider who has an experienced team and is also familiar with security issues surrounding WordPress. In addition, individual account options may be useful.
The good news is that this does not have to be expensive. When you sign up with us for an annual contract, you will receive a free WordPress hosting option.
3. Do not forget backups
In order to keep your business running, it is important that you make regular backups of WordPress. So in the unlikely event that the page is attacked, you have the ability to restore the previous state. Your host server should provide such backup capabilities. Ask about the backup and recovery time.
4. Change your admin username
Most people know that "admin" is the most commonly used administrator name. And hackers take advantage of this. The login page of WordPress ends at wp-config.php. Therefore, hackers use automatic bots and scripts to search for the right combination of username and password. Make it hard for them. Use a unique username. You should also use a strong password. Here are the features of a strong password:
- More than 12 characters
- The password should consist of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers and special characters
5. Check the access to your directory
The access rules to your directory ensure that only selected, authorized persons can see or modify files that are necessary for WordPress. This will prevent website visitors from gaining access to these directories because they are not part of the site.
You can also set access via the htaccess file - especially for the admin page. Now if a hacker tries to enter this page, he will be redirected to a page with the message "403 Access denied".
6. Download plug-ins from trusted sources
There are over 40,000 plugins for WordPress. These are undoubtedly an important thing to make your website functional. But not all of the plug-ins are suitable for you. As discussed earlier, some plug-ins are vulnerable.
Before you download a plug-in, be aware of the following points:
- Read the user reviews
- Which support is offered? Do you have to pay for it?
- Does the plug-in owner answer questions?
Monitor your WordPress website
It's hard to keep track of the performance and security of your site around the clock, all week long. However, it is important that they do everything possible to ensure that your website is never hacked. Even in the unlikely event that this should happen, you should be able to respond immediately and take the right actions.
There are many companies that not only control the site, but also provide additional support. This can improve the performance of your site. One of such providers of web services is our company ECS Professionals. We have more than 10 years of experience in hosting, security, maintenance and support.
